A typical household’s quarterly sewer bill will rise by around $25 next year, with similar jumps coming in 2028 and 2029, following a vote by the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority board Thursday.

The ALCOSAN board met at the sewerage agency’s Marshall-Shadeland plant and voted unanimously for a three-year series of rate increases:

• 14% in 2027
• 14% in 2028
• 13.5% in 2029.

ALCOSAN staff said households that pay monthly will see bills rise by an average of around $8.50 next year. Compounded, the increases will boost sewer bills by around 48% by 2029.

The agency bills the 83 municipalities it serves, or their water authorities, which in turn bill individual customers. In the City of Pittsburgh, ALCOSAN charges come to customers through the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.

ALCOSAN Board Chair Emily Kinkead, a state representative, D-Brighton Heights, said the rate hikes come at a difficult time when “prices are increasing everywhere. They’re increasing for ALCOSAN, too.”

Board Vice Chair Darren Kelly added that the agency is “cutting everywhere we can” and exploring federal and state grants that might allow it to curb future hikes. He added that ALCOSAN must comply with a federal consent decree to reduce the amount of sewage flowing into the rivers.

ALCOSAN is deep into the process of modernizing its wastewater treatment plant, and beginning to dig 16 miles of tunnels aligned with the rivers, expected to cost $3.7 billion over several decades. The work is driven by a 2007 pact between the agency and the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice, under which ALCOSAN has to cut by 7 billion gallons the amount of mixed rainwater and sewage that overflows its system and enters the rivers.

“We are federally mandated to continue with the tunnel project, the regional tunnel system,” said Kinkead in an interview after the board meeting. “And we have to pay for it. We’ve received no federal funding to support the mandate.”

The Democrat said the agency intends to try to work with Congress to get federal help, and also to explore any state funding opportunities “to keep any future rate increases reasonable and affordable for ratepayers.”

ALCOSAN has an assistance fund for households having trouble paying their sewer bills.

Chair: Tunnel project should have more local contractors

Earlier in the day, ALCOSAN broke ground on the five-mile, $1 billion Ohio River Tunnel project.

Construction is to run into 2032. It’s the first of three massive digs totaling 16 miles — the other two along the Monongahela River and Allegheny River — meant to store mixed rainwater and sewage that would otherwise overflow into the rivers, until it can be treated. Also ongoing is construction of a wet weather pump station, led by Mascaro Construction Co. and projected to cost around $346 million.

For the Ohio River Tunnel, ALCOSAN’s board voted in April to approve a $1.03 billion agreement with prime contractor Brayman-Lane JV to bore from East Allegheny to McKees Rocks. Saxonburg-based Brayman Construction Corp. is partnering with Charlotte-based Lane Construction Corp. on the project.

ALCOSAN tells prime contractors to spend between 10% and 25% of their contract amounts with minority- or women-owned businesses. Brayman-Lane’s proposal for the Ohio River Tunnel calls for clearing the 10% bar almost entirely with women-owned business enterprises (WBEs), listing commitments with just two minority-owned business enterprises (MBEs) totaling anywhere from $150,000 to $6 million — less than 1% of the total.

The city’s standards for diverse contracting call for 18% of spending to go to MBEs and 7% to WBEs, while the county sets goals of 13% for MBEs and 2% for WBEs and other economically disadvantaged contractors. The mayor and county executive each appoint three members of the ALCOSAN board, and jointly choose the seventh.

After Public Source reported on the modest MBE involvement, Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor said ALCOSAN has to “give everybody an opportunity and there’s going to be billions of dollars being spent.” County Executive Sara Innamorato’s administration said through a spokesperson that the agency should “use all of the tools at their disposal to exceed our expectations.” Neither set a specific goal for MBE involvement on the huge project.

Kinkead said the diversity commitment on the Ohio River Tunnel project “may be on the lower end right now. That doesn’t mean that that’s what it’s going to be in the long term.

“We are committed to working with our prime contractor to ensure that they have access to, and knowledge of, local and minority- and woman-owned businesses to ensure that those folks are at least able to bid to be able to have an opportunity to work on this project.”

She said the board and ALCOSAN staff are in “an ongoing conversation” about how to involve more diverse contractors and more local contractors in the huge projects it’s undertaking.

“Just the Ohio River Tunnel stands to have a $1.5 billion economic impact on our region,” Kinkead said. “We’d love to see more folks in Allegheny County benefiting from this.”

A spokesperson for Brayman wrote in response to questions from Pittsburgh’s Public Source that “it would be premature to characterize participation or changes to subcontracting plans at this stage.”

ALCOSAN pledged after publication of Public Source’s investigation to report quarterly on subcontracting diversity numbers.

ALCOSAN last week announced that it had upgraded its treatment plan so it can handle 480 million gallons per day, nearly double what it could process a year earlier. The plant’s capacity will ultimately reach 600 million gallons per day.

Rich Lord is the managing editor at Pittsburgh’s Public Source and can be reached at rich@publicsource.org.

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Sewer bills to surge 14% next year in most of Allegheny County

by Rich Lord, Pittsburgh's Public Source
October 22, 2026

<h1>Sewer bills to surge 14% next year in most of Allegheny County</h1> <p class="byline">by Rich Lord, Pittsburgh's Public Source <br />October 22, 2026</p> <p>A typical household’s quarterly sewer bill will rise by around $25 next year, with similar jumps coming in 2028 and 2029, following a vote by the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority board Thursday.</p> <p><a href="https://www.alcosan.org/about-us/board-of-directors-meetings">The ALCOSAN board</a> met at the sewerage agency’s Marshall-Shadeland plant and voted unanimously for a three-year series of rate increases:</p> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>14% in 2027</li> <li>14% in 2028</li> <li>13.5% in 2029.</li> </ul> <p>ALCOSAN staff said households that pay monthly will see bills rise by an average of around $8.50 next year. Compounded, the increases will boost sewer bills by around 48% by 2029.</p> <p>The agency bills the <a href="https://www.alcosan.org/about-us/service-area-facilities">83 municipalities</a> it serves, or their water authorities, which in turn bill individual customers. In the City of Pittsburgh, ALCOSAN charges come to customers through the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.</p> <p>ALCOSAN Board Chair Emily Kinkead, a state representative, D-Brighton Heights, said the rate hikes come at a difficult time when “prices are increasing everywhere. They’re increasing for ALCOSAN, too.”</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://www.publicsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/DA_ALCOSANTunnel-Lord-Morrison-15.jpg" alt="A woman speaks at a wooden podium with an ALCOSAN anniversary logo, with another person standing in the background." class="wp-image-1338798" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">State Rep. Emily Kinkead, D-Brighton Heights, speaks during ALCOSAN's 24th annual open house on Sept. 19, in Marshall-Shadeland. Kinkead chairs ALCOSAN's board. Behind and to the right is ALCOSAN Executive Director Arletta Williams.(Photo by Danny Arensberg/Pittsburgh's Public Source)</figcaption></figure> <p>Board Vice Chair Darren Kelly added that the agency is “cutting everywhere we can” and exploring federal and state grants that might allow it to curb future hikes. He added that ALCOSAN must comply with a federal consent decree to reduce the amount of sewage flowing into the rivers.</p> <p>ALCOSAN is deep into the process of modernizing its wastewater treatment plant, and beginning to dig 16 miles of tunnels aligned with the rivers, expected to cost $3.7 billion over several decades. The work is driven by a 2007 pact between the agency and the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice, under which ALCOSAN has to cut by 7 billion gallons the amount of mixed rainwater and sewage that overflows its system and enters the rivers.</p> <p>“We are federally mandated to continue with the tunnel project, the regional tunnel system,” said Kinkead in an interview after the board meeting. “And we have to pay for it. We've received no federal funding to support the mandate.”</p> <p>The Democrat said the agency intends to try to work with Congress to get federal help, and also to explore any state funding opportunities “to keep any future rate increases reasonable and affordable for ratepayers.”</p> <p>ALCOSAN <a href="https://www.alcosan.org/our-customers/bill-pay-assistance">has an assistance fund</a> for households having trouble paying their sewer bills.</p> <h2 id="h-chair-tunnel-project-should-have-more-local-contractors" class="wp-block-heading">Chair: Tunnel project should have more local contractors</h2> <p>Earlier in the day, ALCOSAN broke ground on the five-mile, $1 billion <a href="https://www.publicsource.org/alcosan-ohio-river-tunnel-minority-contracting/">Ohio River Tunnel project</a>.</p> <p>Construction is to run into 2032. It’s the first of three massive digs totaling 16 miles — the other two along the Monongahela River and Allegheny River — meant to store mixed rainwater and sewage that would otherwise overflow into the rivers, until it can be treated. Also ongoing is construction of a wet weather pump station, led by Mascaro Construction Co. and projected to cost around $346 million.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://www.publicsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/DA_ALCOSANTunnel-Lord-Morrison-6.jpg" alt="An industrial water treatment facility with a prominent red cylindrical building, pipes and a bridge spanning the river in the background." class="wp-image-1338795" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">People enter the main pump station while on a tour during ALCOSAN's 24th annual open house on Sept. 19, in Marshall-Shadeland. The main pump station houses ALCOSAN's wet well where wastewater arrives from 83 Allegheny County municipalities. ALCOSAN is adding a $346 million Wet Weather Pump Station as part of its $3.7 billion effort to reduce the flow of sewage into the rivers. (Photo by Danny Arensberg/Pittsburgh's Public Source)</figcaption></figure> <p>For the Ohio River Tunnel, ALCOSAN’s board voted in April to approve a $1.03 billion agreement with prime contractor Brayman-Lane JV to bore from East Allegheny to McKees Rocks. Saxonburg-based Brayman Construction Corp. is partnering with Charlotte-based Lane Construction Corp. on the project.</p> <div class="wp-block-group alignright is-style-default has-secondary-background-color has-background"> <h3 id="infobox-title" class="wp-block-heading">Ohio River Tunnel facts</h3> <ul class="wp-block-list"> <li>4.9 miles long</li> <li>To run from East Allegheny to McKees Rocks</li> <li>Construction from 2027 through 2032</li> <li>Average annual construction workforce: 1,760</li> <li>Downward shafts 15- to 50-feet across</li> <li>Tunnels 150’ below the surface</li> <li>Horizontal tunnels 14- to 18-feet wide</li> </ul></div> <p>ALCOSAN tells prime contractors to spend between 10% and 25% of their contract amounts with minority- or women-owned businesses. Brayman-Lane’s proposal for the Ohio River Tunnel calls for clearing the 10% bar almost entirely with women-owned business enterprises (WBEs), listing commitments with just two minority-owned business enterprises (MBEs) totaling anywhere from $150,000 to $6 million — less than 1% of the total.</p> <p>The city’s standards for diverse contracting call for 18% of spending to go to MBEs and 7% to WBEs, while the county sets goals of 13% for MBEs and 2% for WBEs and other economically disadvantaged contractors. The mayor and county executive each appoint three members of the ALCOSAN board, and jointly choose the seventh.</p> <p>After <a href="https://www.publicsource.org/alcosan-ohio-river-tunnel-minority-contracting/">Public Source reported</a> on the modest MBE involvement, <a href="https://www.publicsource.org/oconnor-innamorato-alcosan-tunnel-minority-contracting/">Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor said</a> ALCOSAN has to “give everybody an opportunity and there’s going to be billions of dollars being spent.” County Executive Sara Innamorato’s administration said through a spokesperson that the agency should “use all of the tools at their disposal to exceed our expectations.” Neither set a specific goal for MBE involvement on the huge project.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image alignleft size-full"><img src="https://www.publicsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/n2GX8prQ-scaled.jpeg" alt="A group of people wearing hard hats and safety vests perform a ceremonial groundbreaking with shovels in front of large Alcosan and Steel City Tunnel Partners banners." class="wp-image-1339305" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Allegheny County Sanitary Authority officials and others break ground on the Ohio River Tunnel project at the corner of Progress Street and Warfield Street on the North Shore on Oct. 22. (Courtesy of ALCOSAN)</figcaption></figure> <p>Kinkead said the diversity commitment on the Ohio River Tunnel project “may be on the lower end right now. That doesn't mean that that's what it's going to be in the long term.</p> <p>"We are committed to working with our prime contractor to ensure that they have access to, and knowledge of, local and minority- and woman-owned businesses to ensure that those folks are at least able to bid to be able to have an opportunity to work on this project."</p> <p>She said the board and ALCOSAN staff are in “an ongoing conversation” about how to involve more diverse contractors and more local contractors in the huge projects it’s undertaking.</p> <p>“Just the Ohio River Tunnel stands to have a $1.5 billion economic impact on our region,” Kinkead said. “We'd love to see more folks in Allegheny County benefiting from this.”</p> <p>A spokesperson for Brayman wrote in response to questions from Pittsburgh’s Public Source that “it would be premature to characterize participation or changes to subcontracting plans at this stage.”</p> <p>ALCOSAN pledged after publication of <a href="https://www.publicsource.org/alcosan-ohio-river-tunnel-minority-contracting/">Public Source’s investigation</a> to report quarterly on subcontracting diversity numbers.</p> <p>ALCOSAN last week announced that it had upgraded its treatment plan so it can handle 480 million gallons per day, nearly double what it could process a year earlier. The plant’s capacity will ultimately reach 600 million gallons per day.</p> <p><em>Rich Lord is the managing editor at Pittsburgh’s Public Source and can be reached at</em> <a href="mailto:rich@publicsource.org"><em>rich@publicsource.org</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org/alcosan-sewer-bill-rate-hikes/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org&quot;&gt;Pittsburgh&#039;s Public Source&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.publicsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cropped-ps_circle_favicon_blue.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=1339310&amp;amp;ga4=G-CCLXQK5C14&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://www.publicsource.org/alcosan-sewer-bill-rate-hikes/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/publicsource.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

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